When the

profit Elijah faced a three-year drought, as told in I

Kings 17, he was told by God to go to Cherith, a brook

where he was fed and nourished.

This is the

goal of Fayette-based Cherith Ministries - to feed

and nourish those in need.

The

principal mission of the organization is to encourage and

support pastors and their families and to provide

counseling to both pastors and their congregations.

It reaches

out into communities to draw people together regardless

of their individual faiths.

Gray N.

Harwell serves as its executive director and can be found

assisting in mission programs in Fayette County, the

United States and a number of places around the world.

First

Thursday Praise and Worship is one of the local missions

that praises the Lord through community worship. Usually

conducted at Sams Auditorium in Fayetteville, it draws a

nondenominational group of Christian followers. Harwell

invites pastors from various faiths to assist in leading

the noontime worship hour.

Recently

the Rev. Timothy M. Hepburn and the Rev. Tom Zaworski,

deacons of the Catholic Church of Saint Gabriel's, were

on hand.

Cherith is

active with the Fayette County pastors' breakfasts, each

Tuesday morning at 8 at the IHOP in Fayetteville.

It conducts

a prayer summit each year, at which time a three-day

retreat is offered for pastors, and also sponsors an

International Renewal Ministries.

The next

event Cherith will participate in is the National Day of

Prayer, conducted each year on the first Thursday of May.

This Thursday, on May 4, several different events will be

at Heritage Park in Fayetteville.

A breakfast

will be at 8 a.m. at Grace Evangelical Church on Flat

Creek Road; at noon and at 5:30 p.m. a prayer gathering

will be at Heritage Park at the fountain.